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Dear Civitas,
Our key upcoming event is this Saturday's Discussion Group at Crossroads School from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM. This is a wide-open free-flying discussion with no "pre-prescribed" topics.
We also include information on how you can buy Civitas photo novelties from MyCapture.com as well as a fine tutorial on how to get to the Civitas Intranets site where you can engage in more discussions, polls, and research.
We do have a new survey on profanity in public discourse. We also provide results from last week's survey on holiday shopping.
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Civitas home page
High School Discussion Group This Saturday, Dec. 13, 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Our next high school discussion group is this Saturday; December 13, 2003 from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM. It is in the afternoon because some students will be taking the ACT tests in the morning. The discussion group will be at Crossroads School (map below). It will be an open discussion on any and all topics of the students' choosing. As always, terrific refreshments will be available!
Map & Directions to Crossroads School
For more information on the Middle East Conference....
For more information on last month's Middle East Conference, please check the links below:
Index to Middle East Conference
Committee Results from Middle East Conference
Discounted Photos from Middle-East Conference
Professional Photos of Middle East Conference
Link to Video from Middle East Conference
Photo Novelties Available from Civitas
In conjunction with St. Louis-based MyCapture.com, Civitas is selling photo novelty items such as T-shirts, cups, mugs, mouse pads. In addition we have all sizes of professionally developed photos available for sale.
Click here or on the image below if you would like to check out the images that you can order for any novelty item in which you might be interested.
Summer Job Opportunities (New)
Students, we have received information about summer job opportunities with the U.S. Department of State and other employers from Ms. Hazel Tamano, president of the St. Louis chapter of the United Nations Association.
From: Hazel Tamano [[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 9:12 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: FWD: Summer Jobs for Students
Subject: 2004 Summer Jobs for Students
FYI
SUMMER JOBS 2004 - US State Dept, Wash DC - DEADLINE Jan 2004
APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 2004 for employment May - Sept 2004.
Please, FIND A STUDENT AND SHARE THIS INFORMATION: High School Grades, Vocational Schools, Community Colleges, College Students, etc. Pass on to high schools, colleges and universities please! Help the students!!
Students - COMPLETE AND SUBMIT THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Brief of Vacancy Information:
Agency: United States Department of State
Announcement #: SCEP-2004
Closing Date: January 16, 2004
Period of Employment: May - Sept 2004
Grades: GS-2/3/4
Location: The Department of State at 2201 C. Street, NW Washington, DC
and Metro Area Submit Application/Resume Package to: Bureau of Human Resources, ATTN: Summer Clerical Program Coordinator
US Department of State
2401 E. Street NW, Room H-518
Washington, DC 20522
To access the on-line application form, go to www.govjobs.com
Survey on Profanity in Public Discourse
Today's question relates to profanity and politics (or in a broader scale, public discourse). It comes to our attention because of a recent comment by Democratic candidate for president, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
As reported in the Monday, December 8, 2003 edition of the New York Times, the Massachusetts senator uttered a profanity in an interview in the latest Rolling Stone magazine to express his dismay over Bush's handling of Iraq. When asked in the interview about the success of rival candidate Howard Dean, whose anti-war message has resounded with supporters, Kerry responded: ``When I voted for the war, I voted for what I thought was best for the country. Did I expect Howard Dean to go off to the left and say, `I'm against everything?' Sure. Did I expect George Bush to f--- it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did.''
The expletive drew a rebuke from the White House, which suggested an apology might be in order. ``That's beneath John Kerry,'' the president's chief of staff, Andrew Card, said on CNN's ``Late Edition.'' ``I'm very disappointed that he would use that kind of language,'' Card said. ``I'm hoping that he's apologizing at least to himself, because that's not the John Kerry that I know.''
The Kerry campaign said the Massachusetts senator had no regrets.
Our question is, "Should the language of public discourse include more of the language that many people use in everyday conversation?"
Link to Survey on Profanity in Public Discourse
You can also respond to our surveys on our Intranets site!
Civitas has a most interesting intranet site -- a place where students can not only answer survey questions, but also engage in discussion groups on timely topics. The site also has considerable background information for Civitas members with a host of links to other interesting sites.
The kind folks at Intranets.com (located in the hi-tech Route 128 corridor around Boston) have made it easier than ever for interested individuals to join our intranet site. For a helpful tutorial on how to quickly join and engage in the activity on the intranet site, you can click here. The tutorial is a creation of Bobbi Clemons of the Civitas staff.
Link to Poll on Civitas Intranet Site
Previous Survey Results (New)
It is indeed holiday season again. We ask a rarely raised question. What, if any, percent of the money that Americans spend on holiday gifts do you think would be better spent to help poor people in the U.S. and/or around the world?
Responses % #
1. 0% 5% 1
2. 1-25% 21% 4
3. 26-50% 26% 5
4. 51-75% 32% 6
5. 76-100% 16% 3
Total: 22
Most respondents felt that a considerable amount of holiday shopping might be better directed to the needs of the poor and downtrodden. However, among the unique perspectives on the issue that are expressed below is an essay from Byrne Holat of S.L.U.H. that presents an alternative point of view.
Sara Graham; Metro, 1995; Environmental Planner
I'm not naive enough to expect the stores to go away, but I think it would be nice to have some actual stores devoted to "alternative" gifts - a gift basket/bag of oranges for that homeless guy you always see on the way in to work, music whose proceeds help fund money for AIDS medicine, recycled paper gift wrap, a book that helps to raise social consciousness about ??? A store like that in the Galleria would do well, I think!
Bobbi Clemons; Home School, 2004
Holiday shopping is so hard. The only people I ever really WANT to give presents to are a few close friends and my little sisters. But for some reason I am obligated to buy crap for unliked (and unloved) members of my "family". Ugh
Byrne Holat; S.L.U.H., 2005
This is an interesting question, but it presupposes that the money we spend shopping for goods doesn't help these people, whereas classical economic theory and common sense tells us that it does - the goods we buy are the product of labor, and the more we purchase, the more we tend to provide employment for people around the world. In fact, since an ever-growing proportion of manufacturing (in contrast to service) jobs are overseas, we the poorer, developing countries more when we engage in such shopping. At the same time, this funds their economy without exposing the money to the kind of corruption that tends to negate the value of pure gifts (the number and size of bribes and theft needed to distribute a pure gift is extremely high in many developing countries, which leads to resentment of the gift-givers). By contrast, purchasing goods manufactured in these countries also helps them to develop a mature economy and eventually to create economic self-sufficiency (Southeast Asia, particularly Japan and in more recent decades Singapore and Taiwan, demonstrate the veracity of this - each began a sustained economic boom by providing low-quality goods, and soon came to occupy a major position in more advanced industries). So, I don't believe we should specifically direct a monetary gift to a developing nation in lieu of purchasing holiday goods - in purchasing these goods, we are making a far more beneficial choice, both for us and for other nations.
Noah Metzler; Crossroads, 2006
I believe Americans spend too much money on unnecessary material goods. The money spent on these items could be used to help feed impoverished peoples in undeveloped countries or even right here in the U.S. Even though I enjoy the holiday season I don't think people should put so much focus on material possessions.
Laura Casey; Rosati-Kain, 2004
There's a twist we could spin on this question. Did we mean money we spend on presents should otherwise be spent on charity? Or, could that money we do spend be required to be partially donated, by the businesses, to charity? Obviously some issues arise from that, but hey, good times! Happy Non-Denominational Day/Season everyone!
Additional Links
More information about Civitas
Photo Gallery
Streaming Video [Real Media]
Web Calendar
Agendas
Civitas Intranets Site
Civitas Home Page
Previous Newsletters
Maps & Directions
Middle East Conference Index Page
High School General Assembly Assignments for 2003-2004
High School Security Council Assignments for 2003-2004
Civitas Participant Handbook
Resolutions (High School U.N.) for 2003-2004
Checklist for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
Sample Resolution
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